Following on from part 1, Kelly goes on to make a retro inspired underbust body corset with matching bra-tops.

Making corset 2

This corset is made from silk charmeuse and two kinds of striped, slightly metallic leather. All of the satin panels were quilted over 1/8” cotton batting to enhance the design. Black grommets and lacing completed the all-black palette.

 

The pattern was achieved by first draping a basic body corset on a legged dress form, then making modifications for waist reduction. Once I had a mock-up, I followed the example in The Foundations Revealed article Y&N Diagonal Seamed Corset part 1 to get the style lines. A second mock-up was created to check everything was working, and I was ready for the fashion fabric.

Because my pattern didn’t have seam allowances (a personal preference) I started by tracing my pattern pieces and adding 1/2” seam allowance on the right side of the leather. Because the leather was striped, I drew thin red lines on both sides of the pattern, and lined those up with the “grain” of the stripes. I marked all of my notches with a gel pen, being careful not to go past the seam allowance. I chose to interface all the leather pieces for this corset, because the leather was soft and slightly stretchy. 

Cutting out the satin sections was a little more complicated. I cut one layer satin, two layers of interfacing, and one of batting with no seam allowance. I used weft interfacing for the satin, as it is much softer. For the batting I used the same interfacing as the corset, and trimmed off the seam allowance on seams where the batting joins to itself. You always want the batting side to be stiffer, so the softer side conforms to it, otherwise your quilting won’t get any definition.

Although I used satin here for contrast, you can use this exact same quilting method on thin leather. For thicker leathers you are better off achieving the effect with cording. (Note - In this picture (below) I cut out the interfacing first, adding seam allowance, then used the interfacing to cut out the satin. This way I could pin in the seam allowance and not leave pin marks on the satin.

For making the quilted sections, after fusing I started by sewing the batting and satin layers separately. The satin was stitched, clipped and pressed open, and the batting was zigzagged together twice with the seam abutted.

After that the layers were hand basted along the outer edge, and at center back and center front, using silamide thread. For the side panels I also basted across the middle, and the back along the future boning channels. This anchored the satin pieces to the batting, but also gave me the pivot location for the decorative machine stitching.

 I began stitching all of the pieces, checking every few rows that they were even, adjusting when necessary.

On the back pieces, when I hit the boning channel, rather than back-stitch I left the tails long and hand knotted them to the inside. This is very easy to do by puling the thread on the wrong side until the “loop” from the right side appears; using a seam ripper catch the loop and pull the tail through. Hand knot and trim the threads.

For most of the quilting I followed my previous line, but when I got to the bottom of the lacing opening I found pin-marking the placement to be very handy.

 In general I have found it better if you always quilt in the same direction; if you alternate direction you are more likely to get wrinkles. Quilting will also cause the pieces to shrink slightly, so I tend to cut them slightly larger, and then trim them after the quilting is finished if necessary. The bigger the piece, or the closer you space your lines, the more it will shrink. These pieces shrank 1/16-1/8” total.

Before I started laying out all of the pieces to sew them together, I took a moment and marked all of the match points on all layers with a dot of gel pen on the wrong side.

 Since the coutil inner layer would be more forgiving of mistakes, I sewed the inner layer first to warm myself up for the leather. I started with the back, and sewed all of the seams I needed in order to put in the facing. The corner was reinforced with very tiny stitches.

 One side of the facing seam was sewn, and then the other, pivoting at the corner. I choose to do a facing because it is very important to minimize leather bulk in the grommet area. Because there were so many seams ending at the waist, a facing cut down the bulk quite a bit. The facing was one layer of silk, fused directly to coutil.

When sewing the front I found it easiest to sew the center front waist seam last, because it made it easier to meet the match-points on the other pieces first. The seams were then opened, and intersecting seam allowances trimmed down to ¼” to help remove some bulk.

Next the waist tape was pinned in, and the boning channel placement decided upon. The boning channels were stitched down, catching the waist tape in place.

 The final step for the inner layer was sewing up the center back seam.

 Unlike the corset from part one, the leather for this corset was very soft, and easy to secure with regular sewing pins. While pinning the layers together you always want to be careful to pin inside the seam allowance to prevent visible pin-holes. I began to assemble the pieces together the same way as the coutil layer, again ending with the center front and center back waist seam. I hand basted the CF waist seam before running through the machine to ensure the points patched exactly.

 Because this corset had fabric panels, I ended up needing to press the seams open in addition to hammering them. If, like me, you need to iron your leather, use a press cloth to protect it. I prefer silk organza press cloths because the sheer allows me to see the seam. Between the iron and hammer I found the seams to be sufficiently open, so I decided not to glue them. The last step was to trim off the excess seam allowance at the CF and CB to reduce bulk.

 I decided to top-stitch decoratively around all of the satin/leather seams, and with that the leather layer was finished!

 Pinning rights sides together, I sewed the two corset layers together at the center back, first one, then the second side. After pressing the seam open I turned the corset right side out. I top-stitched the back boning channels in the gap I had left in the quilting, and did a bartack at the bottom of the opening to help prevent wear (similar to the bottom of a fly on jeans).

 The crotch area was made by applying a pre-made bra back to the inner overlap piece, then sandwiching the coutil and satin through all layers. Pre-made bra backs are nice because the edges come pre-finished, and they have equally spaced hooks made for withstanding stress. Running a quick basting thread down the center of the outer overlap, I continued the quilting down onto the crotch.

Next I hand basted-in-the-ditch of all of the seam lines, and did prick-stitch basting of the boning channels on the leather sections.  Machine stitching from the underside was not an option because the feed-dogs scratched this leather.

 After basting was complete, I machine sewed all of the leather panel boning channels and in-the-ditch along the seams, being careful not to cross through any of the boning channels. When I was sewing a seam and got to a bone, I found it easier to back-stitch than to jump to the other side, back stitch and continue. This method left a patch of free thread on both sides that was easy to clip off later.

At this point I measured, cut and inserted my boning. I used mostly ¼” spirals, but the center front had ½” flat steels, and the center back ¼” flat steels. A quick top stitch along all edges (1/8” in so it would get covered later), and I was ready for the binding.

For a decorative touch, I cut out my binding with the stripes running diagonally. The only difference in applying the binding from part 1 was that this time it was thin enough to be folded around the corner. After sewing the binding to the right side, I folded it under, pinned it at key points and stitched-in-the-ditch from the right side. The final step was trimming off the excess on the inside to 1/8”.  

The biggest challenge in putting grommets in leather is probably the bulk. Unless you are using an unusually thin leather (and strong interfacing), your corset is probably going to be thicker than a fabric one. This can cause problems for two reasons: One, the corset is so thick that the shank can’t pass all the way through. Two, the grommet edge will cut the leather open.

Some solutions:

1 - Hammer the grommet area – Cover your corset with a cloth and beat it a bit with your rubber mallet. This can help the leather compress down without marring the surface.

2 - long shank grommets – For exceptionally thick corsets long shank grommets are really handy. They can be harder to find in different colors, however. If stuck using regular shank grommets, sometimes setting the same hole twice will flatten the leather enough to set. I suggest using cheap craft store grommets first, remove them with pliers, then set your nice grommet.

3 - Use a rotary punch- A punch will give you a nice clean hole that the grommet can easily pass through. It will cut like butter through the leather, but be a bit tougher on the fabric layer. Shop around a bit for one, they can vary from $12-100. You can also use the smaller punch tools that come with hammer-style grommet setters. The key is you want to punch/cut a hole, and not simply wiggle an opening as you would with an awl.
If you are worried I suggest setting a few test grommets on a sample that mimics your corset layers. If you try all of this and the grommet still cuts your leather, take a pin and put some leather glue in the cut to seal it closed.

I started by marking the grommet placement on one side of my corset with gel pen. I keep a clear ruler marked with my preferred grommet placement (every 3/4”) handy to transfer the markings to the other side.

The easiest way to use a rotary punch is to let gravity and your body weight do the work for you. On a hard surface that won’t get dented, line up the punch with your marked hole. Let the handle of the punch rest on the surface then lean forward, putting all of your weight onto the handle, rather than squeezing it. It is a little awkward to get used to, but by the end of your corset your body will thank you for the lack of muscle strain. Set your grommets with your preferred method. For myself I have a Home Pro LR.

My finishing touches were to sew the hooks onto the crotch strap, and dot glue into the few little cuts that had accumulated on the corset. Once the glue dried clear they were practically invisible.

Making the accessories/ second companion outfit:

The two bras and matching panty were all inspired by vintage underwear, but made with a contemporary fit. The strapped bra pattern was adapted from a bra-cup corset I made previously, and fits a large c/small d cup. The strapless bra was drafted from a sloper, using the bra on page 206 of Waisted Efforts - An Illustrated Guide to Corset Making By by Robert Doyle, Published by Sartorial Press Publications, ISBN: 0-9683039-0-0)  as a visual reference. It is intended for a B cup. The panty pattern is the same I used in Article 1, with modifications for a quilted back panel and binding instead of elastic. The pattern was originally adapted from a stretch panty pattern.

The pieces were quilted in almost exactly the same way as the corset, the only difference being the number of pieces I had to join, and that I opted for 1/8” quilting lines in places.

 The first stages of construction for the bras was  very similar to the corset, as I opened and top-stitched the seams.

The Strapless Bra was all in once piece, but the strapped bra was worked on in two pieces (cups and band).

 Working on the coutil layer (which didn’t have the decorative style lines like the leather layer) I planned out the bone casings. For the CF and side seam of the strapless bra I used heavy-duty 1/2” zip ties. For the CF of the strapped bra I used two of the same zip-ties and an underwire. Both bras had ¼” steels at the back. Since I couldn’t find an under-wire that had the size/shape I wanted, I used some pliers to re-shape a salvaged one.

Next up was to sew the leather and coutil layers together. Sewing the CB seams right sides together, I sandwiched the bras in the same way as I did with the corset. First basting the two layers together in-the-ditch, I then permanently stitched them together, starting and stopping at bones. I also topstitched the underwire casing on the strapped bra.

 The last step was sewing the cup into the strapped bra permanently, and later hand sewing some satin bias over the seam. Regardless of the fashion fabric, whenever I make a bra like this I use satin for this seam for the comfort of the wearer. Both bras were now ready to be bound.

 Binding the bras was almost exactly the same as the corset; the only area with a difference was the buckled strap. I chose to taper the ends of my straps so I could overlap the binding cleanly. Even if you don’t taper your straps, you may still want to make the buckle side slightly smaller on the underside so it becomes invisible when folded under. After creating a hole with the rotary punch (smallest size) I slipped on the buckle and hand-sewed the tab to the under-side. Grommets were installed normally every 1” on the other side of the strap, to make the bra more adjustable.

 The quilted panel on the panties was sewn pretty much the same as on the corset and bras. For the main panty seams, however, I did decide to hammer and glue them open since they were not going to be top-stitched.

 The knit lining was constructed all in one piece separately, and the two layers were basted together with dots of leather glue. I bound the edges with the same striped leather binding, and added the grommets to the sides. The binding was purely an aesthetic choice; I could have just as easily used elastic, as in part 1.

The Finished Ensemble:

 

Photo-Shoot Credits:

Photographer: Girlie Show Pinups http://www.girlieshowphotography.com/
Model: Erin Micklow https://www.facebook.com/pages/Erin-Micklow/189328527767037
MUA/Hair: Viva La Varga Make-up by Jordana Morgan http://www.vivalavargas.com/default.aspx
Myself: Anachronism In Action https://www.facebook.com/Anachronism.In.Action

Being self critical about the finished result, I wish I had used a heavier interfacing on the leather. While it seemed adequate in the beginning, the longer I handled the leather during sewing, the softer and stretchier it became. As a result now it feels as if I didn’t use any interfacing at all, and the leather wrinkles and bubbles more than I’d like. If I use similar leather in the future, I will definitely devote more time to doing stress tests on various interfacings; as well as research some techniques used for stabilizing stretch fabrics.

Cleaning and Care

A leather corset can be dry cleaned, and there are many dry cleaners that specialize in leather. A quick search on yelp.com should help you find one locally. In between dry cleanings I suggest the old theater standby, Rotgut. In a bowl or quart [EU: litre] bottle, mix cheap vodka and water (the ratio varies with preference, I usually do 50/50). Apply the mixture to the fabric lining of your corset and let it air dry. If you’ve never used rotgut before to clean something, you will be amazed at how completely devoid of body or alcohol odors it will be when dry. The one drawback, however, is that some leathers will waterspot, so try not to get it on the leather itself.  If your leather does get wet, try to let it dry as slowly as possible; if the leather dries too fast it will become brittle. A flat surface in a room with no bright lights, heat or breezes is best.

Basic garment leather cleaners can be bought at grocery and convenience stores. Just be careful that the one you purchase doesn’t have any dye included. Such is often the case with many polishes that are intended for shoes, but are labeled simply as leather cleaner or polish.

Tools and Supplies:

(This list is by no means exhaustive, just a good place to get you started if you don’t have a leather store locally.) A lot of leather stores will have a discount bin somewhere filled with scrap and small hides left over from larger batches. The small hides are great for binding, and the scraps for testing various weights/finished on your machine.

UK
http://www.bowstock.co.uk/index.html
http://www.leprevo.co.uk/

USA
http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/home/home.aspx
http://savmorleather.com/ - my favorite place to shop in Los Angeles

Ebay - As long as you pay very close attention to the listed weight (often the seller will list possible uses) and square footage, you can find some really good deals on ebay.

Other Resources:

Alley Cat Scratch: More geared towards LARPing and garment making (LOTR costumes specifically), but a wealth of information.

Example of Edge Finish Products: Tandy has some great information on their website, so be sure to check it out!

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